The Humble Walker

Camino del Norte – Stage 15. Comillas to Pendueles. We are still moving forward in Spain

Posted on April 27, 2025April 27, 2025 by mewalsh1

We left our alburgue with less sleep than we would have liked. While the albergue was clean and organized, the beds were close together and the top bunks were quite high. The bunks all had curtains, outlets and their own light which was nice, but I was pretty warm up near the ceiling and felt a little claustrophobic. We had the included breakfast of toast and jam with coffee and headed out. The town was still quiet at 8:00 am when we left and it was a pretty walk out of town.

We passed numerous beaches on our way and the only people in the water were of course surfers. I didn’t realize there was such a strong surfer culture in northern Spain.

As usual when hiking on the coast of northern Spain, we seemed to always be walking uphill – even near the ocean. We hiked up hill for quite a way and as we reached the top, the most amazing views spread before us. The snow covered Picos de Europa was on the left, a beautiful village was in front of us in the distance and magnificent views of the Atlantic Ocean were on our right. I truly couldn’t believe the view and wondered why I had never heard of this place. I took a lot of photos but they don’t do it justice. John called it is “wow” moment. The most amazing thing was that cows were grazing on this beautiful land and there were no people around. And no high-rise hotels. I’m sure it is busier in the summer. But still….

San Vincente de a Barquera in the distance

We could see the medieval church of San Vincente de a Barquera in the distance for quite a while – for at least 5 k We finally crossed the bridge into the city, took a requisite Camino photo and stopped for a coffee and tortilla. We saw several friends from the hostel the night before in town. They are much quicker walkers than us.

San Vincent’s de la Barquera in the distance

We soon left Cantabria and entered the Asturias region. We hiked inland for a time thru the forest but eventually made our way back to the coast. We came to an intersection where we could choose to walk for a time along the road or choose the coastal route. We chose coastal. The trail as t marked but we could see the path crossing cow pasture and running along cliffs near the coast. We could see that a couple we met from Hungry earlier stopped at the same intersection but they chose the road. The scenery again was beautiful. We did lose the path a couple times – I think because it’s early in season and grass had overgrown sections. It was a bit scary at times as there was a sharp drop to the ocean on one side and thorns and large cows to the left. At one point, we were not sure how we would get thru one of the gates as there were several cows in the way. They seem quite docile but they are very large and there was no where to go on the right but down a cliff. But as we got closer they let us pass by without a problem. I have decided I really like dairy cows. 😊. The mother cows take such good care of the little ones.

Our albergue for the night, Aves de Paso

we arrived a little before they opened. John decided on a siesta while I went to check out the village of Pedentues.

Interesting rock just outside our albergue

Ruins of Indiano house. These were lavish houses built by Spaniards who sailed to the new world and made money in the Americas, especially Cuba. Many are still lived in today and are found in the Asturias region. Most had at least one large palm tree in front and were surrounded by walls and gates.

The albergue was the best we stayed in so far. There were only 11 beds and it had such a welcome vibe. They did a couple community loads of laundry for us. We were allowed to wash clothes worn that day. It is always nice to have laundry done by machine. We had a delicious community meal with new friends from Hungry, Argentina, Italy, Barcelona, Japan, Michigan, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and of course Germany. At dinner we received notes of encouragement written by pilgrims there the day before. Of course we paid it forward by writing out own notes to pilgrims coming the next day. The albergue was donativo which means you pay what you can for services offered.
it was a special experience and we slept well.

Delicious vegetarian supper with local wine

Messages of encouragement from other pilgrims.

Camino del Norte – Stage 14. Santillana Del Mar to Comillas.

Posted on April 25, 2025April 25, 2025 by mewalsh1

Leaving our cute Pensión, Hospedaje Maria Jesus

We headed out of Santillana Del Mar early after drinking our instant Starbucks coffee we brought with us. We like a cup of coffee before heading out but sometimes there is no cafe open before 9:00. Maria Joseph had provided us with a tea kettle and biscuits in the room. As we headed out of town we still were amazed at how beautiful and medieval it seemed.

Santillana Del Mar – one of the prettiest towns in Spain

Yellow Camino arrow and shell to show us the way

Shorty after we left it started raining. It was a soft rain and not too bothersome. We even saw another rainbow as the rain stopped. Soon after we left town we were walking through rural farmland. The sky turned blue and it really was a buaetiful walk so I took lots of photos.

Along the way we saw beautiful old churches, lots of grazing cows, goats and sheep, and frequent views of the blue ocean in the distance. We talked with other hikers from Northern Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, and Hungry as well as more Germans. It was one of my favorite walking days so far.

Iglesia Parroquial Sa Pedro Advincula, Cobreces

After 24 kilometers or a little more we finally made it to our destination, Comillas. We are staying in a dormitory style albergue tonight called The Magic of the Camino. They had a real washing machine. It will be so nice to have clothes that were washed by a machine. The sun was still shining brightly at 5:00 pm and we hung them on the lines to dry before heading out to check out the town and find something for dinner.

Camino del Norte – Stage 13. Boo to Santillana del Mar

Posted on April 23, 2025April 23, 2025 by mewalsh1

516 more kilometers till we reach Santiago de Compestela

We left Boo after a quick cup of cafe con leche with plans to stop on the way for a tortilla. In order to cross the Pas River we had to take the train one stop as pedestrians are not allowed to cross the railroad bridge. The train is free for pilgrims to ride one stop. Since we had a long day of walking ahead and it was raining, we decided to stay on the train an additional two stops.

John has lost weight on our trip so far. He can’t tighten his belt any further 😊

We had to walk by a large chemical plant for at least 3 k. It it was called Solvay and they produce soda ash. It was an huge plant. Apparently they have 9000 employees world wide. We walked by their employee housing , a school etc. It wasn’t the most scenic part of the day but it was interesting. It started raining soon after we left Boo but it was a soft rain and we knew it wouldn’t last the whole day.

After walking another 15 k through rolling countryside, we made our way into the historic town of Santillana Del Mar.

Santillana Del Mar is a medieval town that grew up around the Collegiate Church of Santa Juliana. It is known as one of the prettiest towns in Spain and it really is beautiful. Because of its beauty it is on many tourist bus stops in northern Spain and has many tourists around town during the day. In the evening when tour busses leave, it is much more quiet. It is also very close to the Altamira Caves, which are home to some of the oldest and best preserved prehistoric art drawings in the world. We didn’t go there but it sounds pretty cool.

Hospedaje Maria Jesus – our pension for the night

We stayed in a cute pension owned by a wonderful hostess named Maria Jesus. It was a spotless room and very comfortable. After doing our usual chores (laundry) we headed out to explore. We ran into Pao from Taiwan who was also staying in town. I was hoping to buy a pair of socks, as I left my extra pair on the line at the last albergue. We saw a crowd of people heading to the church and we joined them thinking it was now open and we could get a look inside. When we got to the door we found out it was a funeral service. We had seen posters of a service but I hadn’t noticed the date. We have passed thru several towns were flyers are posted announcing funeral service for someone who has passed away. We didn’t want to wait around for 8.00 pm when the restaurants opened so we had a pizza at a place that closed at 6:00. It was delicious. I think we are eating fewer meals while here after walking all day, but when we do eat we are hungry. Maria Jesus provided a teapot and we had a cup of herbal tea and went to sleep. It was a nice day in a special town.

Camino del Norte- Stage 12. Santander to Boo

Posted on April 22, 2025April 23, 2025 by mewalsh1

We started in Bayonne France a few stops off the map in France. We plan to leave the Camino Norte anfpd go to Oviedo to join the Camino Primitivo in another week.

We left Santander on a rainy morning with 561 k left to Santiago de Compestella. We had planned to walk a 28k coastal variant but decided against that as the forecast called for rain and heavy winds. Instead we walked the traditional Camino route to Boo. It was a short day, only 14 K and we arrived in the early afternoon noon after a somewhat boring walk thru the Santander industrial zone and suburbs. We did talk with a guy from Austria at our albergue who said the coastal route was beautiful but it was extremely windy. We arrived at our albergue, Albergue Piedad, in the early afternoon and had to wait to get in. We had a coffee in the adjacent cafe and talked with other hikers from the Netherlands; Germany and Pau from Taiwan. Even though most of the people there were in a dormitory room we were lucky enough to get a private room. The albergue was very clean and like many of the private albergues we stayed at, run by a family. It was in a rural area and since it was Easter Sunday everything was closed.

Our albergue. It had a nice rooftop deck where we were able to hang our clothes to dry in the late afternoon when the sun came out.

Sitting outside the albergue waiting for it to open.

Checking out view after hanging laundry out

Tomorrow we head to Santillana Del Mar, along with most of the people staying at the albergue. We may be walking in the rain but have our rain gear and backpack covers. The weather seems to be unpredictable here. We are enjoying out time in northern Spain. 😊

Camino del Norte – Rest Day in Santander

Posted on April 21, 2025April 21, 2025 by mewalsh1

We got off the ferry in Santander and walked toward our hostel. We were tired and hungry and too early to check in so we stopped for a coffee and tortilla on the way. The city was full of people there for the Easter holiday. Our hostel, Alojamientos Cantiber was great. It was very clean and had a great kitchen and common area. We shared a room with 4 other people – including Wishy, a young guy from China and Alfonso from Rome. They were hardly around so we had the room to ourselves except at night. We were able to take it easy for the day. Our room also had a nice balcony that overlooked a street with shops and cafes. I would recommend it as an inexpensive place to stay if in Santander.

We were sitting on our balcony the night we arrived when I heard the sound of drums and trumpets. I looked down the street and saw the police had it blocked off. I realized that since it was Good Friday, it must be the Semana Santa parade. We headed down the street and were able to see most of the parade. The streets were lined with people but we found some steps to climb up and had a great view.

While in Santander we also went to the Catedral de Neustra Senora de la Asunción de Santander. The lower part of the church was built in the 12th century and several years ago, archaeologists found remains of the Roman Empire under part of the church. It is a beautiful and simple gothic style church. The complex includes a cloister where you can hear the organ music and the sounds of the mass going on inside the church.

Elevators instead of stairs in neighborhoods on hill.

Santander seems very prosperous with many stores, restaurants and museums. It is built on a hill and even has outside escalators instead of stairs to get to the hillier parts of the city. We didn’t explore the city as much as we might have as we needed a break from walking 😊, but enjoyed our time people watching.

Camino del Norte Stage 11. (Donna and John’s Excellent Adventure Continues). Güemes to Santander.

Posted on April 20, 2025April 20, 2025 by mewalsh1

After a restful sleep and a coffee we headed out. Today will be a longer day – we are headed to Santander – about 27 k away.

Soon after we left our pension, we saw Pao from Taiwan and Alex from France who we had stayed with a couple nights earlier. They had spent the night at the Albergue la cabana del Abuel Peurto. They said it was a great communal experience and would recommend if we return. We walked on and stopped at a cute town called Galizano where we stopped for a delicious tortilla and coffee. Galizano is near the beach and the Camino left town and headed out to the beach.

As we walked uphill (of course) toward the beach, came across Pablo who was out walking his dog. I asked about the mountains in the distance and he named them all for me. The Picos Europa were in the distance and covered with snow. He asked where we were from and when we said Maine in US, he told us he heard it I was very cold there. His nephew has been working in Maine and wrote to him about the cold winters. His nephew is working on the CMP pipeline for Avangrid, the Spanish parent company of CMP.

Our walk soon climbed up the cliffs near the beach and was simply breathtaking. We passed another Laredo Beach and continued walking. At one point we saw Santander, our destination in the far distance. Y

At one point we again heard someone calling out. We turned and of course our two German grounds Karls and Mike caught up with us. It was great to see them again.

It’s always fun to meet up with Karls and Mike from Germany.

We could see the town of Somo in the distance and at some point had to once again walk on the beach. We had to take our shoes off to cross a tidal inlet and the water felt so good on our hot and tired feet . We stopped at a rock to put our shoes back on and had a nice conversation with Patrice from Madrid who lived in San Francisco for several years. Finally we reached Somo and after a well deserved cafe con leche, we headed they town to catch the ferry across the Mira Estuary to Santander.

Camino del Norte Stage 10. Laredo to Güemes.

Posted on April 19, 2025April 19, 2025 by mewalsh1

We headed out of Laredo and walked the length of the 5 kilometers beach. It was raining lightly off and on and we saw a beautiful rainbow, which I considered a good omen. At the end of the beach we knew we had to find the boat that ferries pilgrims across the estuary. We followed the arrows to the beach but did not see a dock of any kind. Eventually other pilgrims joined us and soon we saw a small boat coming from the other side. I wasn’t sure if we would have to go in the water to get on but they put ramp down to the beach. A few minutes later we were off to Santana, the city across the water. Santana was smaller than Laredo but seems much more prosperous .

Walking along the Paseo Maritimo and beach for over 4 k

Santana is a lovely town and if I do the camino Norte again; I would choose to stay there instead of Laredo. Outside of town we walked and walked and walked around the El Dueso Prison -one of the largest in Spain with a perimeter of 300,000 square meters and 336 cells. Santons has several beaches and we walked by them as well. There are surfing schools everywhere and there were surfers in the water and on the beach – all wearing wetsuits as it was only in the 60s.

After passing several surfing beaches the trail headed up a steep incline. We were heading over a mountain peninsula that separated several beaches. The climb was steep and difficult as it was wet from the rain earlier that morning. But the cliffside trail had unbelievable views the higher we climbed.

Near the top, Stephanie from Austria and the two Germain girls we met on the boat caught up with us. We all stopped to get our hiking poles out of our packs for the slippery steep walk down. We made it down and started hiking across the very long beaches. Apparently northern Spain has some of the longest sandy beaches in Europe.

We finally made it across the beaches teaming with young surfers attending numerous surfing schools and into the city of Noja where we stopped for a well deserved hamburguesa and fries. There were hundreds of people everywhere, spending the Easter holidays with their families.

After lunch we still had 16 k to go so we trudged on. As we were walking across a field we heard someone yelling to us and it was our old friends (by now) Karls and Mike from Germany. We enjoyed talking with them for a few k but they were stopping at San Miguel for the night. They apparently didn’t sleep well the night before and had also walked 40k the day before. Not to stereotype, but every German we have met have been intense hikers. We had reservation at a Pensión in Guemes 8 more k and trudged on. Soon we started talking to a family from Brussels who were doing 10 days on the Camino. We walked with them off an on until arriving in Güemes were they also were spending the night. One of the nice things about the Camino is talking to others while hiking as it makes the miles or kilometers fly by. Of course our current political situation was a topic of discussion.

Güemes is a very small town with a Pensión and an albergue with two cafes. We had a nice dinner at our Pensión and a great conversation with a couple from France who were basketball fans and knew about Newport, Maine because it is home of Cooper Flagg. The husband told us he attended Olympics in Barcelona in 1992 and saw the Dream Team with Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson etc play. John was happy to talk sports with him. Altogether today we walked 33.6 k or 21 miles. Tomorrow will be a shorter day to Santander.

Camino del Norte – Stage 9. Castro Urdailes to Laredo.

Posted on April 18, 2025April 18, 2025 by mewalsh1

We woke up to the wonderful aroma of croissants and bread baking and remembered that our pension was above a bakery. With our mouths watering, we headed down to get a coffee and pastry before heading out. The door to our Pensión was a heavy metal door like the door to a castle and somehow as we were coming back in to the Pensión the door slammed shut on my pinky finger. The pain was excruciating but I cleaned it and put a bandage on and we headed out. The walk out of town was beautiful. We went past the church again, passed an old sardine packaging building (Sardine packaging used to be big industry in town) and walked past the beach. After a while we then headed inland.

it you look closely you will see statue of boys jumping off stones

John so happy to see our German friends from the other night, Karl’s and Mike

John probably giving Karls and Mike a hard time

at one point we were looking ahead and missed the yellow arrow which is the Camino trail marker. We didn’t realize we were going the wrong way when we heard someone calling out to us. It was the two women from Germany we met a couple days before at dinner. We were so grateful as we were heading down hill and would have had to climb all the way back up.

Our two German woman friends who saved the day when we went the wrong way

we made it to our albergue and John wasted no time getting a nap in

While John took a nap, I took a walk around to check out Laredo. It did have a nice beach and an old city section but it was so windy, sand was blowing in my eyes. Overall, Laredo seemed like a tired old city that had seen better days. Like all towns in this part of Spain, restaurants don’t searve supper till 8 and sometimes if you hiked all day that is just too late. We decided to go to the supermacado and we bought pasta sauce and ravioli to cook. The albergue had a great kitchen with lots of cooking utensils. It was also super clean and the owners were very nice. One of our roommates was from Taiwan and was doing the Camino also. Our other roommate was an artist from Dublin. Another young woman from Austria, Stephanie, ate with us. She had just finished medical school and was going to be starting studies in maxillofacial surgery. The other was an artist from Dublin who was just in Spain visiting friends. After dinner i decided to take the bandage off my finger that had been smashed in the door that morning. Stephanie, the medical student upgrade me to go to the farmacia to get antibiotic ointment. I headed to farnacia and the pharmacist looked at my finger and told me I should go to medical clinic. It was hard to bend my finger and it was quite swollen and purple. I headed to clinic which happened to be down the street from aubergue and the physician there did not think I needed an X-ray. The cleaned and bandaged it. I write about this as my visit to clinic was very easy with Google translate. Everyone was very nice. They took my passport info and I did not need to pay any money at the time. I think they will send an invoice but I am sure it will be much less than visit to Urgent Care in US. Tomorrow we will head inland a bit to Güemes.

Camino del Norte – Stage 8. Bilbao to Castro Urdiales.

Posted on April 16, 2025April 16, 2025 by mewalsh1

We woke up woke up sore and aching and decided to take a bus for part of the way to our next destination Castro Urdiales. I had read the first several hours went thru the industrial outskirts of Bilbao and were not very scenic. We were looking forward to getting back into the countryside. Castro Urdiales is a city but much smaller than Bilbao. It had a nice old town. The big industries are fishing and anchovy packing as well as tourism. We are no longer in the Basque Country but now in Cantabria.

Castro Urdiales was first settled by the Romans and still has a medieval Roman bridge. The city stands over the Roman colony of Flaviobriga under the emperor Vaspacian. They are doing some at archaeological work in town with building remnants from the Roman city. Near the Roman bridge is the 13th century gothic church The Church of St Mary of the Assumption and a castle lighthouse from the 13th century.

Inside church of Santa Maria de la Asuncion

We checked into our pension and set out to explore. We walked up to the church and out on the breakwater. The town is on the Cantabria Sea and later in the afternoon we had some rain and the some of the waves waves were crashing over the breakwater.

Teen jumping 40 feet into the ocean off the old Roman bridge.

we decided on pasta for supper and after snort walk around town decided to call it a night. Tomorrow we head to Laredo.

Camino del Norte – Stage 7. Musika to Bilbao.

Posted on April 15, 2025April 16, 2025 by mewalsh1

Heading out from the albergue at 8:00 am

We woke at 6:30 with the sound of bugle Calvery cry from one of our roommate’s phones. He is from Spain but loves the American west. After a breakfast of yogurt , granola and toast we left the Albergue Casiero Pozuenta around 8:00. It had stopped raining but we were still walking in a misty cloud for a while. The scenery was beautiful once the clouds and fog cleared. Once again we walked up and up and up. Every time we thought we were at the top we turned a corner and walked up again.

we finally reached the top and started downhill. Unfortunately we had a lot of mud to contend with going down from yesterday’s rain. We were very glad we had our poles as it was quite slippery.

We finally made it down to a town called Larrabetzu. We passed a lot of graffiti and signs calling for basque independence and the liberation of basque resistance members currently imprisoned. Apparently, this town, not too far from Bilbao, the Basque capital, is one of the most outspoken villages in the Basque fight for independence. The hills around here are full of trenches and bunkers that were designed to defend against the capture of Bilbao by the fascists in 1936. They were unsuccessful.

Church of San Emeterio and San Caledonia, Goikexea, Spain

We were exhausted from our muddy climb down the mountain and decided to take a bus the last 9 kilometers into Balbao. This would also give us more time to explore the city.

After the quiet rural walks of the last couple days, Bilbao was a bit of a shock to our system. We walked out of the metro station to a chaotic and noisy but vibrant city. I was trying to find our location on the map on my phone but the streets were so narrow and buildings so high it was difficult. Out of the chaos an older man came over to us, and in broken English asked if he could be of assistance. He gave us a quick low down on places to see. He also warned about the many pick pocketers. He suggested a paper map as well. 😀. We thanked him and finally found our Pensión for the night which was in a great location just off the busy Plaza Nueva.

After a quick rest and a bite to eat, we headed out to explore. We headed a cross the river and walked to the impressive Guggenheim Museum. It was closed but we enjoyed walking around the outside of the strangely shaped building. We then went to one of the oldest cafes in Bilbao as recommended by out elderly friend. The interior was done in tiles. We then visited the cathedral where we were able get our compestella stamped. We then had a delicious dinner of pintos at the plaza Nutella and called it a night. We were exhausted